Introduced with the Egg Industry Service Provision Bill 2002, the bill provides for the transfer of assets and liabilities associated with the egg sub-programme of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation to the newly created Australian Egg Corporation Limited. Also makes consequential amendments to the

Introduced with the Egg Industry Service Provision (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Bill 2002, the bill establishes Australian Egg Corporation Limited (AECL) which will be limited by guarantee under the

Corporations Act 2001

and will be responsible for providing industry services to the egg industry, including generic promotion and research and development functions.

to enable Australia to accede to the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts 2005 to provide certainty and commercial predictability when electronic communications are used in the formation or performance of contracts between parties located in different countries.

to amend the professional confidential relationship privilege provisions available to protect confidential communications between journalists and their sources in certain circumstances by: providing that courts observe public interest considerations; requiring courts to consider any likely harm to a journalist if certain evidence were given; repealing provisions for automatic loss of privilege in cases of misconduct; and removing the requirement for courts to give the greatest weight to any risk of prejudice to national security.

Implements recommendations made by the Australian Law Reform Commission, New South Wales Reform Commission and Victorian Law Reform Commission in their report into the operation of the uniform Evidence Acts (Uniform Evidence Law) by amending the:

Evidence Act 1995

to implement model evidence provisions in relation to hearsay and opinion rules, the admissibility of expert evidence, admissions in criminal proceedings, coincidence evidence, credibility of witnesses, compellability provisions in relation to same-sex couples, advance rulings on evidentiary issues, warnings and directions to the jury, and the manner and form of questioning witnesses, and make consequential amendments and update certain cross references;

Amendments Incorporation Act 1905

to: amend the long title of the Act and rename it as the

Acts Publication Act 1905

; provide for certain printed and electronic versions of Acts to be taken, unless the contrary is proven, to be an accurate record of those Acts; and provide that printed compilations of Acts include amendments by either Acts or legislative instruments. Also makes consequential amendments to four other Acts.

in relation to: the registration process for approved providers; financial penalties; and the publication of certain information;

Ombudsman Act 1976

to enable the Ombudsman to: provide an independent complaints body for overseas students of private registered providers; provide advice and training to private registered providers to facilitate best practice complaint handling; and review and investigate complaint handling and report on systemic issues; and

Privacy Act 1988

to enable the Australian Information Commissioner to transfer certain complaints to the Overseas Students Ombudsman.

Part of a package of three bills to establish a tuition protection service (TPS), the bill: establishes the TPS levy to be imposed on registered providers and sets out the basis for its calculation; provides that certain providers may be exempt from components of the levy; and requires the dollar amounts of the administrative fee component and the base fee component to be published annually.

Part of a package of three bills to establish a tuition protection service, the bill amends: the

Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000

to: place obligations on registered international education providers when a provider fails to start or finish providing a course or when an overseas student fails to start or finish a course; provide for a national regime of national registration of providers; limit the amount of initial pre-paid fees that may be collected by a registered provider; provide that students are only eligible for a refund of the unused portion of prepaid tuition fees; and specify what details providers must keep on student records; and five Acts to make consequential amendments. Also repeals the